


You're Never Too Old to Dress Like an Idiot and Demand Candy

by wickedorin



Category: Tiger & Bunny
Genre: Black Tiger - Freeform, Gen, OCs - Freeform, Ouro!Bunny - Freeform, Trick or Treating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-23 13:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2549171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedorin/pseuds/wickedorin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written as a fill for a drabble request on AwaitingMassProduction: "Going trick-or-treating with the Heroes."</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're Never Too Old to Dress Like an Idiot and Demand Candy

They’d all agreed to meet in front of the condo complex which Kotetsu, Barnaby and Kaede had recently decided to call home, just to have a “base of operations”. Predictably, Kurou and Argente arrived first, five minutes early nearly to the second, motorcycle parked across the street.

Argente approached in a relatively simple ensemble, clearly representative of a classic vampire: black pants, white shirt with some “frilly bits”, black cape. He still managed to look quite good in the clothes; but before anyone could compliment him, he immediately moved to gush slightly, “Kaede, you look amazing.”

She blushed, shifting in a way that only accented the cut of the slender dress she was wearing. “Thanks. I wanted to do a classic movie starlet, but Dad said it was too adult…”

"Only if you dress that way all the time." Barnaby clearly stood on her side. Even though her father frowned a bit. It wasn’t as if the costume was actually all that adult, or revealing; it was just shaped for the female form with a slightly lower neckline than anything Kaede normally wore. Otherwise, well, it looked to him like the sort of nice dress he’d see at a social event, albeit on someone older. The make-up was minimal as well, reduced to just a bit of lipstick and mascara.

"What are you costumed as, Kotetsu?" Kurou ventured.

The man spread his arms wide, several bandages dangling from his limbs. “I’m a mummy!”

The android tilted his head slightly. “You are Egyptian, then?”

Blinking, Kotetsu corrected, “Uh… no, I’m just a mummy.”

"A Japanese mummy." Barnaby teased. "I decided to dress as—"

"A cheater." Kotetsu accused. "All you have is a mask."

"Since you like horror so much, I thought you’d revel in the fact that I’m wearing a hockey mask." Barnaby argued. "I’m also wearing a brand of jeans I’d never pick out for myself…”

"I believe it to be appropriate." The android commented.

"Like your costume." Kaede pointed out with a giggle.

Glancing down at his “mechanical” hand, it would have been relatively easy for him to have simply turned off his tactile sensation and remove parts of his synthetic skin for “realism”… but that was both far too much work, and a little ridiculous. It was better to simply build a bit of a prop over a glove and then an “eye patch” to wear over one eye for that “battle damaged cyborg” look. “I thought that I should take advantage of my general overall situation.”

"But the Terminator, Kurou?” Barnaby didn’t quite complain. It was close, though.

Well that seemed slightly worrying. “Am I not correctly interpreting the humor of the situation?”

"Oh you’re interpreting it just fine." Kotetsu reassured, grinning. "But why a vampire, Argie?"

"I wasn’t really comfortable with the Cooking Mama outfit."

"Oh." That… wasn’t really an answer, he didn’t think, but it was the best he was going to get. Especially when his old friend showed up in an admittedly very well put-together, homemade costume. "That isn’t very creative." Kotetsu still felt the urge to complain. "You’re a cow.”

"I’m a steer. And you’re one to talk.” Antonio countered, adjusting the head so that he could see through the eye holes again. “That’s what you usually look like after you go home from a day on HERO TV, right?”

Barnaby was not terribly supportive with that snort, but he did clear his throat and regain control of the laugh threatening to break free. “It wasn’t usually quite that severe.”

Antonio felt a bit more supported with that comment, at least. “Didn’t expect to be early…”

"I think you’re right on time." Ivan countered, walking somewhat audibly toward the gathering crowd. Well he’d certainly spared no time or expense, from the perfectly styled long red wig to the traditional Japanese dress ( kimono, hakama, haori and geta)… and that katana.

"You are way out of our league with that outfit." Antonio commented bluntly.

The android, however, was exceedingly curious. “May I ask as to your costume? The general visual database is unclear.”

"Oh, I’m Himura Kenshin." Ivan smiled widely, glad that anyone had taken an interest.

Immediately, Kurou began to research the name—and almost as quickly, he understood. “An excellent selection for you, then.”

"Really? You think so?"

"I do indeed." He answered simply.

"Make way, loyal subjects, the queen is here." Nathan announced dramatically, emerging from around the corner with a flourish in what could only be a modern (and not-so-slightly skimpy) interpretation of a wealthy Egyptian queen’s ensemble.

"It seems you dressed appropriately after all, Kotetsu." Kurou pointed out.

Barnaby let go of a chuckle rather than just a snort that time.

Not that the “mummy” noticed, grinning brightly. “Hey! We didn’t even plan this!”

Sashaying up to Kotetsu, Nathan wrapped an arm around him and tugged him closer. “Does that mean you’re my date this evening, Tiger?”

"Uh. I think Bunny would have something to say about that." The bandaged man protested. "Right, Bunny?"

"You can have him." The blond dismissed, managing to sound almost serious. "Just have him back by morning."

”Guys.” Kaede protested in a manner that absolutely did not suit her costume.

Nathan chuckled, letting Kotetsu go. “Oh, right. Not in front of such a beautiful and cultured young lady.”

Once again the teenager blushed. “Th-thanks. Are you… a goddess?”

"Only in my personal life, hon." He utterly ignored Antonio’s snort. "But I’ll go with queen. Hatshepsut had the brains, Nefertiti had the style, Cleopatra had the charm; mix them together and add a healthy dose of hoping Halloween night is warm in Sternbild…"

"You’re not the only one." Came another approaching voice, the costume revealed to be—

"That’s not fair!" Kotetsu pointed and protested.

"It’s a Blue Rose costume straight off the rack! It was funny!" Karina countered with a huff. "Look at this thing, it’s made of plastic and it’s terrible!”

"Isn’t the real thing mostly made of plastic?" Barnaby couldn’t quite hide the smirk from his voice.

Instead of responding, Karina simply stuck her tongue out and then marched over to stand next to Kaede. She then squeaked a little when she saw something coming toward her at speed—

Only to notice that it was John, looking extremely excited, obviously having slipped Keith’s hold. Barnaby spared a quiet laugh at the fact that the dog was wearing a jacket, with a lump on one side, no less.

When Keith finally caught up, a little winded, he took a moment to catch his breath even before waving, announcing unnecessarily with the “head piece” and the “neck bolts” clear under the street light, “I’m Frankenstein!”

"In actuality, the doctor’s name was Frankenstein." Kurou attempted to offer helpfully. "You would be ‘Frankenstein’s monster" or perhaps ‘Frankenstein’s creature" for more political correctness."

"O-oh." The man responded, slightly uncomfortably.

"But it is a very good costume." The android assured. "John as Igor is a— ‘Nice touch."

Keith blinked innocently. “Who?”

"Ah."

Luckily the awkward moment was interrupted with what was quite possibly a slightly more awkward moment when the last of their group arrived. Karina was the first to actually give voice to what everyone was thinking. “Pao-Lin? Really? I mean… Lunatic?”

The youngest of the group just shrugged, mask in hand for the moment rather than hiding a slightly mischievous smile. “I thought it would be funny! And you’re not one to talk.”

"Got you there, right?" Kotetsu unhelpfully pointed out, getting a huff from the young woman.

"Should we head out, then?" Antonio asked, taking note that there were already a few stray costumed kids wandering a few blocks down.

"Sounds good to me." Nathan agreed.

"But the kids get first pick of the candy, right?" Kaede asked helpfully as they began walking as a group.

"First you tell me you’re not a little girl anymore, then you want all the candy?" Kotetsu pointed out with a little poke to his daughter’s shoulder.

After the chuckles died down, Kurou announced softly, “It would appear that we will be accompanied.”

Barnaby glanced around, seeing no one new. “Accompanied? By who?”

The answer became clear by actions rather than words. There were lights in the distance, moving, getting closer; then more than close enough to see all five S-ARCs running toward them in unison. Only… each one was wearing a different animal ear headband. John seemed very happy to see them, at least, wagging and barking.

"Wait, wait. Hold on." Kotetsu pointed to each. "Black cat, bunny, fox, white tiger, and… moose?"

"Technically they were marked as ‘reindeer’, though that was clearly inappropriate." Kurou somewhat clarified.

"I AM A MOOSE." Clarke declared matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, okay." Kotetsu responded with a laugh and a shrug, starting the group off again.

——————————————————————————-

It was well past 2:00 AM when they returned to the condo, saved only from exhaustion by a steady diet of sugar through the night. They must have visited every house in that section of Sternbild and then some, completely filling their bags with everything from candy to that healthy stuff that uncool old ladies gave out. The S-ARCs returned to the lab, their friends returned home with their hauls of candy, and the Kaburagi household (Kurou and Argente included) poured out their bags into one enormous pile to lay claim to.

None of them had meant to eat that much candy, honestly. Kurou was very interested in trying different types, and then Argente wanted to do a bit of flavor research on the slightly more odd varieties, which lead to everyone else wanting to try and mix and break off pieces to share, and…

It was when Barnaby realized he’d drifted off after a sugar crash, leaned against the side of the couch rather than sitting on it, staring up at the ceiling, that he hadn’t once had he actually thought about his birthday that night. He was fine with that, he didn’t like to think too much about his birthday, but…

Suddenly Kotetsu snuggled up to him lazily, having had way too much sugar earlier, himself. The words were soft, private. “Happy Birthday, Bunny.”

He blinked, then snorted. Sometimes the old man did actually know just what to say. “Thanks.”


End file.
